Logs:Check Her Basement

From From Dusk till Jawn
Jump to navigation Jump to search


Cast

Little Fox and Liezel Richardson

Setting

Liezel's House

Log

Takes place 2/23/21

There's only one thing to do when Liezel stops answering her text messages: check her basement.

It's a space customized for the Orphaean, full of scavenged beakers and bunsen burners and other chemist's equipment, none of which sees its usual use. It's window dressing and yantra fodder in one, used tonight as it usually is- to distill some tap water boiling over one burner into a beaker used to etch the borders of the Iris. It leads down. Liezel's always do when she sets up to work- and they're always keyed to exactly one additional person.

There's also a second ring of splattered water outside the one that actually did its job. Liezel's almost surely pissy about that. She must have had to try twice. But the Iris is there, and welcoming- at least to the one personfoxfolx to which it is an invitation rather than a polite rejection.

She lets herself in with her key, and then slips into fox-form as easy as breathing. It's delightful to pass through Liezel's home when she's a fox -- sure, she can see and hear and smell things when she's a human, but when she's vulpis vulpis, it's not so much that sight gets less important, since foxes do hunt by sight somewhat. It's more that when she's like this, her sense of smell sits in the driver's seat and hangs out the window pulling faces and making rude gestures at all the other senses.

A few deep breaths as she passes through Liezel's house, her soft little fox feet going pap pap pap on the floor, and then she spots the Iris in the basement. Her bushy tail flicks once, twice, and then she melts upward into her usual self, dressed in her peacoat, her boots, her Millenial Skinny Jeans, and a grey t-shirt cut into a tank top with the Orphans of Proteus symbol drawn on it in Sharpie.

Sliding through the Iris, Fox calls, "Elizabeth? What are you experimenting today?"

"Theorycrafting, Sir."

The space below is, in elegant Elizabeth logic, upside down. Granted, its only job is to Be A Space, of course, or she wouldn't have put it underground, but pristine marble pillars extend down from the ceiling with its stairs to nowhere to the slightly depressed workspace Elizabeth is making use of, like a temple's raised ceilings on its... well. Marble pillars.

"I'm trying to figure out the best combination of spells to tuck into a single bullet for long distance wetwork," she explains, holding up a large caliber rifle bullet with a white-painted tip. "I thought the phosphorous tracer round keyed to increase the size of the blaze and Perfect its flames would be a good one- and it's... effective..." But no, an inferno of perfected flame is hardly subtle, even at a mile or two range. She sets the bullet carefully back down on end with others of its kind and lifts a standard FMJ round- shiny! "So I've been considering simply improving the bullet's velocity and reducing the friction- and including a spell to dispose of the body afterwards. Thought that'd be clever. I've also considered including a spell to repair damage to objects in the area. To repair the bullet holes, you see."

Liezel, herself, is in boyshorts and a tanktop with absolutely nothing beneath it, dressed for comfort rather than company. Which is standard for the exceedingly strange Obrimos.

"OOH!" She brightens. Eureka! "I could also use a spell to keep the spirit from departing until it can be questioned. That would be clever. Sometimes even useful."

"Well. Soul," Liezel corrects.

Fox shucks her ubiquitous backpack, her coat, and her boots, piling them semi-haphazardly in the corner. (Who folds clothing? Not Fox. Probably one of her cadremates folds her clothing for her once they find all her things stuffed into drawers, with loving sighs of total exasperation.) Then she wanders over and pushes herself up on tiptoes to kiss the round of her lover's shoulder. The infodump about Liezel's current project makes her smile broadly.

"Those would be extremely valuable rounds. Do you have any idea how big Vasha's eyes would get if you told him it could do all that? What a truly clever idea."

Liezel smiles at the kiss, studying one of the FMJ rounds, staring at it intently. "Do you have any idea how big Vasily's eyes would get if we did not tell him it could do all that and just let it show him?" She frowns faintly and sets the round aside by itself, likely dissatisfied with some flaw she's just discovered as she turns back towards Fox, smiling again to bend and kiss Fox's forehead.

"Hello, Sir."(edited)

"Actually, as delightful as that is an idea, I think perhaps he would get Very Cross Indeed if he tried to shoot to wound and ended up killing someone that he didn't want to kill. Vasha has done an awful lot of killing in his life, very necessary killing, as I know you have also. If he kills someone, he wants to be the one making that decision." Fox offers all of this up in the gentlest of directing tones, resting her mildly grubby hand on Liezel's upper arm. "Why are you frowning?" she asks.

Fox tips her face up to bite at Liezel's jawline before she can fully pull her face away. It's as affectionate and companionable a greeting as a forehead kiss, and she's gentle with her sharp little teeth. "Hello, Elizabeth. I am glad to see you so ... focused and happy."

"... mm. Good point. I would not want him to look like am amateur and kill someone from hydrostatic shock."

Beat.

"Or make him feel bad or mad for taking a life he did not mean to," she amends, glancing at Fox. That was the more important part. Right?

"Oh. I'm frowning because there's a flaw in the bullet. It looks smooth but the density is off. It'd fly crooked. That's all." She accepts the quick nibble and beams afterwards. "I am too. I am also glad to see you."

"Both of those things are important, but the latter is more important to me anyway. I'm the Hearthmaster of my cadre, and he's my primary partner of... Oh gosh, I think it's coming up on 13 years... so that means more work for me in proverbially gluing his brain back together." Fox leans in against Liezel comfortably, squinting at the bullet on the table. "Oh, I see it," she agrees. "Well, we can fix that."

"I know, Elizabeth. That makes me happy, too."

"We could fix it," Elizabeth admits. "Or I could accept it how it is and use it for a shorter range shot. It won't matter if I'm not banking on precision over hundreds of yards. It doesn't need fixed, I don't think." She nods once. "It's just good at different things from the others. A tumbling round can be absolutely devastating. Like a bridge cable snapping instead of a spear thrusting, if you follow the comparison, Sir."

She's quiet a moment.

"My work at the Arboretum is still holding up well. Yes?"

"Accepting your errors and fixing them by recognizing that your work may be better suited for another purpose is a useful skill to have. And yes! I understand and follow the comparison." She unloops her arm from around Liezel's waist and flops down on the floor next to her, apparently quite comfortable on the temple-style ceiling/floor.

"It's beautiful. You did a wonderful job repairing the Arboretum," agrees Fox. "I check up on its durability every time I go to tend the gardens around the Tree, and it's still holding perfectly."

"I read Diamond's posting, by the by. Mazel tov, Elizabeth." A flash of her sharp teeth in a grin.

"I see other parallels too. A broader parable about square pegs and round holes, maybe." A brief chuckle. "Or sideways bullets and really messy holes, anyway."

"I'm happy. That was... scary. That it could even be broken. I was happy to take the weight off others' shoulders to rebuild. It was a good project- and pushed me to finish learning the Alchemist's secrets." She glances back at Fox. "Want something to drink, Sir? I have a canteen with water in it that could be something tastier if you like."

"Mmm," agrees Fox, not adding more to the parallels but clearly agreeing. She leans back on her hands and looks up at Liezel contentedly.

"It is honestly the most terrified I have ever been in my life. Did I ever tell you how we averted a horrific tragedy? I don't think she posted about it, she isn't one to brag." A pause, and Fox adds, rolling her eyes affectionately. "Not about that, anyway." A beat. "I'd love something! I like sweet-and-sour things, or just sweet things, if that's your preference. Surprise me."

Liezel smiles, and fetches her canteen, twisting off the top and peeking inside. She takes a swig of water- lips count for touching!- and then offers the canteen to Fox. It's pomegranate juice now!

"Did we? I mean... we were under attack, so I believe you. But I don't think I heard the whole story, now that I know there is one."

Firstly, Fox enjoys the juice. That's most important. "Oh, I love it! Pomegranates are so tasty, and very symbolic in Judaism. It kinda makes me feel ... at home." A content little breath out, and she beams up at Liezel. "Fantastic choice. Yum." Another swallow, and she holds the canteen back up to Liezel in offering.

"So... I... " She pauses, and clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Leta saved the Tree, and for a little bit, she was the only one who remembered, and it really, really fucked her up." A long silence, as she tries to sort her mental thread to find the most efficient way through the story. "Do you remember in the fight when suddenly Leta was there out of nowhere in her pajamas and yelling 'protect the Tree' or something very close to that?"

"That is because, as she shared with me telepathically, her memories, you know... that, uhh... " Fox pulls in a slow, shaky breath, as if even speaking the reality of it is traumatizing. "The Seers destroyed the Tree. Then we called Leta and ... she rewound about ... half a minute of time."

"Do you mean because of their use during Rosh Hashannah?" Elizabeth asks, taking the canteen back to sip. She seems to enjoy it herself. "Or because of the saying that it has one seed for every mitzvot, maybe?"

She listens quietly- as she does, often- to the story of what Leta did, wincing at the description of Timefucked memories. "Yes, I do. If I remember right, I think it made me change my mind as to what to attack next. I thought we had more time than we did before that." She's quiet as she processes everything. "I owe Leta a really big hug if she bore that burden for all of us.

And I owe the Seers some of my new munitions."

"Both! And it's just a thing that grows natively in the Levant, so it feels culturally like 'home' to a lot of us." Fox looks up from where she sits cross-legged on the floor.

"It really fucked with her a lot that she was the only one who remembered it. Apparently I was completely hysterical." She looks down at her hands, absently picking dirt out from underneath one of her fingernails with a thumbnail. "Yeah, she made a lot of us change what we were doing, and she saved the Tree. I owe her so much. I don't know what I'd have done if the Tree had died."

"But it didn't. And that's because Leta."

The Thyrsus takes in a long, slow breath. "So. That kinda brings me to my next question, because mentally I just can't dwell on this. Is there a reason you don't have a cadre, Elizabeth?"

"Mm." Elizabeth murred proudly, clearly pleased she'd fished up some accurate trivia. "I'll remember that for next time we're around some of the other-" She pauses, blinking. "... there's a joke, there. Jews and juice. It'd probably be funny but I'm not sure how to put it together."

"I expect you would have been. I don't even know what I'd have done. Shock, probably. All-consuming guilt? I dunno. I'm glad she fixed it. I'm sad it affected her so badly. Is there anything we can do to thank her?"

"Reason?" Liezel thinks a moment. "I don't know. Everyone else just- moved on. And I guess I didn't follow anybody. That's a reason, I suppose. I had other things to do, and nobody seemed to need me, so I kept working."

"Yeah, there probably is," Fox admits with a subtle laugh, dropping her hands into her lap more relaxedly now that the topic of the Tree is all sorted and done with. Thus, she doesn't talk more about her emotional state. Some things are too painful, and she carries the memories now, too. This is how a Hearthmaster do.

"Spend time with her. She tends to get, like, really in her head sometimes. Sometimes like, really in her head. She's like... a Mastigos and also an Eleventh Question. One of the Things that they do, for like, oblations, is use psychedelics. She was high as fuck when she saved us. Honestly, she's usually stoned. It legit helps her see through time. So sometimes, being around her is like. Holding her down to the earth, metaphorically. And honestly, I can't think of anyone more suited to that than you, Elizabeth: you're so focused on the here and now, so... grounded." A small smile up at Liezel, there.

"Well. That's sure a reason." A mild frown, her brow knitting up. "What would you think of being a Firebird?" A raised hand, there. "I'm not asking officially yet. I can't offer you a spot until I talk to everyone else. But I did kind of talk to Leta about it last night, and I didn't want to carry on talking about it to the others if you preferred being alone. It's not... good for us to be alone, I don't think, but that's your choice, of course. I wouldn't ever pressure you."

"You are sure I would not just irritate her?" Liezel asks. "She seems to like having fun. I do not tend to be very good at that. I feel like if I was around someone who was entirely focused on something antithetical to my own interests, I would be irritated." No argument about being grounded. She's got a decent grasp on her self- just less so on how others are going to view her.

"A firebird?" Liezel lifts her palm and sings a few words into her hand, igniting the air above it and forming it into a swirling, flapping... well. Fiery bird which she sets loose to circle the inverse temple while they speak. "I do not prefer being alone. Everyone else seemed to, though. So it sort of just happened. And then I had the repairs, and then my legacy, and then my own masteries, and-" And she kept focused. That was how a Liezel do.

"Leta is very good at reading people and understanding them," answers Fox. "And she wants to spend time with you. You're invited to hang out at the penthouse with us whenever you'd like. We talked about it last night. She even promises to put on pants, but says she can't promise to do that once you join, because it's her house and you won't be a guest then." Her green-gold eyes crinkle at their corners, glittering delightedly.

Fox is delighted by the Firebird as it circles. "Oh! I love your firebird! Did you use Forces?" Always loving magical theory, then. She turns her attention back to Liezel. "So you stayed focused on your work, which is one of the ways that you deal with life. I understand."

"You did not exactly answer my question, though."

"Oh, good. Because I am not very good at being legible." The latter point surprises her, and Liezel looks to Fox, the faint startle evident. "She does? Why? Is it because I am important to you?" A moment. "And does she think it will bother me if she is wearing no pants?"

"I did. I think I could actually use a combination of my Masteries to create a lasting firebird with a made-up ghost inside it. Would you like to see a firebird that likes to quote Karl Marx at every opportunity?"

"And I did not officially answer because you did not officially ask," points out Liezel.

"Because I already brought up the idea that I might broach this topic with you to her," explains Fox. "And she said she doesn't know you well enough to answer yes or no without spending time with you. I don't think that it is contingent on you being important to me, but she did send me the blurry-eyes emoji when I said you'd probably start calling me Sir in the penthouse once it was open to you as your home." She shrugs. "In context, that emoji means 'I am interested in this fact, and find it compelling.'"

"That would be delightful, honestly. A Guardian Ghost for the house might be just what we need for security purposes." She pushes her mouth to one side. "Okay, so, what I was saying is that I can't officially invite you to join. But I can officially ask you if you are interested in pursuing it, spending time with people in order to make sure you feel comfortable with everyone and they feel comfortable with you. And that's what I wanted an answer to, Elizabeth."

"Oh. That makes sense. I would agree that she doesn't know me well enough. I would need to spend time with the others, too. Which are- Leta, Vasily, you, Zoya... Ah... is that everyone? Is there anyone else?" The bird swirled in slow overhead twirls. Liezel looked up at it, reached out- hesitated. "Oh. No. That would be silly. It would eat all the air. Never mind." Don't perfect fires in closed spaces, Liezel.

"I can work on that, then. And I am interested in those things, Sir, very much so." Liezel said smugly, before balking. "Wait. I forgot to say "well why didn't you say so." It's too late now, isn't it?"